427 FE dumps roller lifter and eats camshaft

[Excaliber]

There was that recent thread on "Roller Lifters for the Street", I think I got jinxed reading it!

I lost a roller lifter this weekend and it ate the cam and broke the rocker arm shaft. Damage is localized and not to bad, got lucky!

SO,,,,,,

I been doing some reading on roller lifters. Looks like "heat" is the damaging factor. The engine oil seems to play a big role in carrying away the heat buildup at the roller. Street use generally means less oil to that critical area, thus over heating the roller, leading to failure. The high spring pressures are what causes the heat build up apparently. 150 pounds or less seems to be OK for street use. 200 plus is far more common for a roller cam.

Who was it that mentioned changing valve springs every 5,000 and the roller lifters every 10,000 miles? For some of us 5 or 10,000 miles might be a LONG time. But I drive MY Cobra "alot". I've put a few thousand on it in a few months! Might take others guys years to accumulate 5000 miles.

The car has about 12,000 miles and there is nothing in the "paper work" with the car to indicate any additional major engine work since it was built. SO,,, a 10K estimate for replacing roller lifters could be accurate!

Worthy to note I DON'T have an oil cooler on this car. The oil temp is typically 200-220. I wonder if an oil cooler would have made the difference?

Now carefully considering my options as to WHAT kind of cam and lifters to re-install in the engine! I really like the BIG horse power and may stick with rollers anyway!